“I really don’t know what you’re good at. I really don’t. You can’t ride a horse well, and you can’t even ride a carriage properly. Are you good at running? Should we go running instead?”
Chloe’s face flushed. A servant who requires a lot of attention and isn’t good at anything.
Why did I get excited earlier? Right, it was just a reflexive reaction to a beautiful creature.
Chloe shook her head as if trying to shake off the delusion.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. You’re… good.”
“…!”
Did I mishear something?
What’s good?
He clearly said something was good.
Unfortunately, the duke mumbled that part too quietly, so she couldn’t hear it properly. Chloe tilted her head and looked at the duke.
“I don’t like carriages much because they’re stuffy. But I find this journey particularly comfortable because you’re here. So don’t talk about going back first. I’ll let you sit up straight and go.”
“…..”
Heat rose to Chloe’s face. Her body broke out in goosebumps. Although the weather was a bit chilly, the goosebumps weren’t from the cold.
He’s comfortable because I’m here?
Taking it at face value, it could be interpreted as being comfortable because there’s a servant, but somehow it didn’t sound like that at all.
All she had done since getting in the carriage was get motion sickness while swaying. It doesn’t make sense to say he’s comfortable because he’s being served, does it?
Leaving Chloe blinking and a storm brewing in her head, the duke headed towards the carriage.
“Ah, so are you really not hungry?”
However, he soon stopped and turned to ask her.
“…No!”
Chloe, who had been dazed, finally came to her senses and answered.
Is hunger the issue right now? Your Grace, you’re really strange! While going to find the woman you slept with, you’re saying something oddly suggestive about the journey being comfortable because of a male servant who doesn’t do anything!
Chloe couldn’t even begin to grasp how she should interpret this situation.
Just by being together, does he… like me enough to feel comfortable?
But I’m supposed to be a male servant? A servant who can’t do anything and requires a lot of attention?
Either I’m a servant who gives comfort just by existing, or His Grace’s expectations for servants are very low. It must be one of the two, right?
“Do you mean… I should sit opposite you?”
Joyce asked the duke in disbelief.
“Yes, Clyne seems to have severe motion sickness.”
The duke spoke with a nonchalance that seemed brazen even to Chloe.
“I’m sorry.”
In the end, it was Chloe’s role to apologize.
“No! Haa…..”
Joyce couldn’t say anything to either Chloe or the duke and just let out a rough breath. In the end, he sat down opposite them.
A burden. A nuisance.
Chloe thought that seemed to be about the extent of her position, and sat down in Joyce’s former seat with her head bowed low.
“I’m truly sorry, Lord Joyce, Your Grace.”
She murmured another apology.
With a clatter, the carriage started moving again.
Joyce turned his gaze towards the window, as if he couldn’t bear to look at Chloe sitting in his former seat.
Chloe thought that even though she was sitting facing forward, it still felt just as uncomfortable, and she kept her hands politely clasped on her knees. She also thought this was the most uncomfortable journey she had ever experienced.
Thud.
However, it became even more uncomfortable before long.
Perhaps they were repaving the road, but suddenly the carriage’s vibrations intensified and the carriage that had been shaking up and down continuously made a sharp turn.
And because of that, Chloe’s body slid towards the duke.
She unclasped her hands, which had been held together to avoid falling, and planted them on the seat, but unfortunately, the duke’s hand was right there.
Chloe was startled and quickly removed her hand that had landed on the back of his.
“I’m sorry!”
“…..”
The duke said nothing and just stared down at his hand where Chloe’s had touched.
Sigh, why is he looking at it so intently? It’s not dirty! I didn’t throw up earlier.
Thud.
As if the situation wasn’t suffocating enough, the carriage jolted again.
Afraid of touching the duke’s hand again if she braced herself on the seat like before, Chloe clasped her hands tightly together and tried to steady herself awkwardly, but her bottom ended up sliding completely towards the duke.
This time, not just her hand, but one side of her body was fully pressed against the duke’s firm arm.
Oh no.
“I’m sorry.”
Chloe apologized again as she slowly shifted her bottom to the left. She felt like she had never had a day where she had to apologize this much in her life.
The duke slightly furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. It seemed like he was telling her not to touch his body.
Moreover, the duke moved a bit more towards the right wall of the carriage where he was sitting, then opened the right window and turned his body completely in that direction.
Well, of course. I was just imagining things on my own. What was I thinking about being a servant who gives comfort just by being there? He’s even shrinking away like that, as if it’s unpleasant to touch me.
She felt foolish for having briefly hoped for some kind of feeling from the duke towards her before getting in the carriage. She wondered how she could feel disappointed when she didn’t even know exactly what kind of feeling she had been hoping for.
The indifferent carriage continued to shake after that. The duke looked out the window with almost no reaction to the shaking.
The duke’s back, turned away from her, looked so big and firm. His wall towards her felt just as big and firm.
“Would you like to stop for a while to have a meal, Your Grace?”
“Let’s do that.”
The duke answered Joyce’s question without even turning his head.
Looking at the duke’s back, which was like a wall adamantly refusing contact with her, Chloe thought she wished this journey that felt like an ordeal would end quickly.
Not knowing that the real ordeal of this journey hadn’t even begun yet.
When they finally arrived in Solaine, it was almost four in the afternoon.
“That’s the house.”
Lord Joyce said, pointing to a shabby single-story house.
“Will she be home at this hour?”
The duke asked without taking his eyes off the house.
“I heard she quit her live-in maid job about two weeks ago due to poor health. She’s said to have returned home. She has many siblings, but they’ve all gone out to earn money, and now only a woman named Chloe is in that house with her parents.”
“Hmm. Let’s go see.”
The duke stepped out of the carriage.
Chloe felt somewhat strange, perhaps because of meeting a woman with the same name as her. As Lord Joyce exited the carriage after the duke, she followed behind them.
However, the one who answered when they knocked on the gate was not the woman named Chloe, but her mother. The daughter had started working at a flower shop recently, she said.
“A flower shop? Where exactly is it? What’s the name of the shop?”
“It’s ‘The Pretty Lady’s Flower Shop’ next to the post office downtown.”
The Pretty Lady’s Flower Shop.
What a name. Chloe almost snickered at the simple yet blatant name of the flower shop.
“I see. Thank you.”
The duke turned away as soon as he spoke.
“Farewell…”
The woman’s voice was heard from behind, but it was drowned out by
“Let’s go!”
the duke’s urgent voice.
Chloe tilted her head. The duke’s actions seemed too hasty.
Come to think of it, the duke’s expression had been particularly stiff since they arrived at this house. Like someone being chased, as if he had to meet Chloe right now.
Will he be alright?
The duke’s back as he climbed into the carriage looked somewhat worrying.
‘The Pretty Lady’s Flower Shop’ was a small flower shop with a small sign next to the post office.
“Chloe.”
The duke muttered the woman’s name as he walked towards the flower shop.
‘Chloe.’
Chloe felt strange when the duke called her name while looking at another woman. Just then, a woman who had come out to the front of the shop with a bucket straightened up and looked at the duke.
“Ah!”
Chloe let out an exclamation without realizing it.
She’s beautiful.
The face of the woman, who was a bit thinner and slightly shorter than Chloe, was breathtakingly beautiful. So much so that one might think the name ‘The Pretty Lady’s Flower Shop’ was chosen because of this woman.
The flower shop lady’s face instantly turned red as she saw the duke approaching her directly.
Chloe knew well what that expression on the flower shop lady’s face meant. It was the face of a woman who had fallen for the duke at first sight. All the women she had seen when she went out to Roizen town with the duke had looked like that.
“Chloe.”
The duke called the name as if talking to himself. Strangely, Chloe felt goosebumps and rubbed her arms.
Could that woman really be ‘Chloe’? Chloe found herself staring at the woman’s lips without realizing it.
The flower shop lady’s eyes widened.
“I’m Chloe, did you come looking for me? Do you know me? Who are you?”
She asked again, her eyes fixed on the duke’s face.
Seeing the very pretty ‘Chloe’ with the same name as her, Chloe’s mood began to sink for reasons she couldn’t understand. In contrast, the face of the flower shop lady ‘Chloe’ looking at the duke was beaming.
“I’m Hugrey Ulpaz. Do you… know me by any chance?”
At the duke’s question, the flower shop lady Chloe’s eyes grew even wider than before.
“Ulpaz… Could you be the Duke Ulpaz of Roizen?”
The flower shop Chloe asked.
“So you know me.”
At the duke’s words, Chloe felt a bit dumbfounded.
So you know me, he says.
Hugrey Ulpaz. The head of the Ulpaz ducal family, the lord of Roizen. Who in the Ellaion Empire doesn’t know his name?
Your Grace, it’s not what you think. She doesn’t know you from the memory of that night.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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